If nothing else, Pro Football Hall of Fame receiver Michael Irvin was a master at getting inside the head of an opposing cornerback during the days he starred for the Dallas Cowboys.

A push at just the right moment with the ball hanging in the air or a little in-your-face jawing was always for the offing. Whatever it took for Irvin to get that competitive edge.

It usually worked against even the elite cornerbacks in the NFL. But that approach went nowhere when Irvin matched up against Aeneas Williams, the Phoenix/Arizona Cardinals' hard-hitting, ball-hawking and unflappable cornerback.

Still, Irvin tried.

"I put him through the ringer," Irvin said recently. "When he played me, there were some things I would be doing to Aeneas coming off that line, snatching his helmet, but he would always just turn back up and fight.

Aeneas Williams: The Making of a Pro Football Hall of Famer

A chronicle of the New Orleans native's journey from Pee Wee football to Canton, Ohio.

"And he would never let you get him going and off his game. He always stayed level. He always took the high road and he played hard."

Williams was never one for dirty tactics, heated exchanges or trash talking. He met hostility and indifference with a smile and simple "God bless."

Williams let his tenacious and fearless play on the field do the talking. And during his career with the Cardinals and later the St. Louis Rams from 1991 to 2004, there arguably wasn't a better overall defensive back. One defensive back might have covered better or another might have hit harder, but no one was more complete than Williams.

When Williams, a man with deep conviction, retired from the game, he left an indelible mark. His contribution was so impressive that he was selected in February as one of seven members of the 2014 Pro Football Hall of Fame class, making Williams just the second New Orleans native (Marshall Faulk) to achieve the ultimate honor in football. He is headed for enshrinement Saturday in Canton, Ohio, along with Derrick Brooks, Claude Humphrey, Andre Reed, Walter Jones, Ray Guy and Michael Strahan.

Not bad for someone who could have easily never played the game.

"He is one of the best cornerbacks to ever play in this game," Irvin said. "I watched Aeneas grow from the young boy who came into the league to the true professional, I mean all across the board that he became.

"I get really upset when we talk about Aeneas because he does not get the credit he deserves."

Heading for enshrinementAeneas Williams talks about his reaction when he was first informed of being elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in February.

Partially because he wasn't flamboyant and also because he played on some really bad football teams during most of his first 10 years in the league with the Cardinals, Williams didn't get the attention or accolades cornerbacks such as Deion Sanders, Rod Woodson and Darrell Green received.

But the Fortier High School and Southern University product, who did not get one single recruiting letter coming out of high school, put up numbers that matched or bettered his peers. Williams retired with 55 interceptions, 12 defensive touchdowns (nine by interceptions and three via fumble recoveries) while amassing 1,075 defensive return yards, with his 268 return yards after fumble recoveries still standing as an NFL record.

Williams made the Pro Bowl eight times, was a four-time All-Pro and was placed on the NFL's All-Decade Team for the 1990s.

Mike Martz got a chance to see Williams' greatness from both sides, first as an adversary when he was the quarterbacks coach of the Washington Redskins and then later when he took over as head coach of the Rams and traded for Williams.

Matrz said Williams may have been most feared for his ability to break on balls and intercept them, but the New Orleans native also was one of the hardest hitting defensive backs the game has seen. It was Williams' devastating, but legal, hit on a blitz that all but ended San Francisco 49ers quarterback Steve Young's career with a concussion during a "Monday Night Football" telecast in 1999.

"He was the best at everything," Martz said. "He was best at picking the ball off, best at scooping up a fumble, best at creating fumbles and he was the best tackler back there.

"I've never seen anyone like him, not before or since."

A ROUGH START

Williams came into the league in 1991 as the Cardinals' third-round draft pick, a few seasons removed from deciding to walk on at Southern as a redshirt sophomore.

Williams was athletic, but raw. While the Cardinals were just not very good.

"There were some difficult times," Williams said. "I struggled."

But the light really started to come on in 1994, when Williams led the NFL in interceptions that year with nine to earn his first Pro Bowl invitation. He notched another six picks in 1995, two of which he returned for touchdowns to again make the Pro Bowl.

Williams attributes his turnaround to a young secondary coach with the Cardinals. Rob Ryan was in his first NFL season of coaching, serving as an assistant under his father Buddy Ryan, head coach of the Cardinals from 1994 to '95.

Rob Ryan, now the defensive coordinator of the New Orleans Saints, remembers those days well. What he doesn't remember is being all that responsible for Williams' success.

"I know one thing, anybody could have coached him," Rob Ryan said. "He was that special. For him to accomplish what he has, there is not one teammate of his who is surprised by what he accomplished. I guarantee it."

The Cardinals, while not very good offensively, had good defensive players such as Seth Joyner, Wilber Marshall, Clyde Simmons, Eric Hill and Eric Swann. But Williams stood out among them.

Buddy Ryan, a defensive coaching guru, saw something special in Williams and he leaned on him. He wanted his best defensive back on the opposing team's best wide receiver, no matter the offensive formation.

"My father, unlike any defense he had ever coached, he put him on the best receiver and he had never done that with any other corner he had coached," Rob Ryan said. "Aeneas knew he was special, and he really was.

"We might not have been great, but we were great on defense and Aeneas was phenomenal."

It was during that time that others began to notice the qualities in Williams that had transformed him from a nondescript walk-on at Southern to a college All-American in two years. No one worked harder than Williams and his preparation was impeccable.

"You don't see them like this very often," said Rob Ryan, who had become familiar with Williams years earlier when he coached against him and Southern as an assistant coach at Tennessee State. "He would intercept two or three or four balls a day in practice. You've never seen a guy intercept the ball like this.

"And his preparation was superb. He got everything he deserved because he put everything into it."

Williams' years of hard work finally paid off in team success in 1998 when the Cardinals finally broke through and not only made the playoffs but pulled off a stunning postseason upset in the process. Williams was a major catalyst as the Cardinals shocked the heavily favored Dallas Cowboys 20-7 in the NFC wild-card round at Texas Stadium.

But that season was the only playoff experience Williams ever had with the Cardinals.

"I do feel bad for Aeneas because he didn't get to play for a perennial champion or be on a team and with an organization that really could have maximized all that he is," said Irvin. "Can you imagine him playing somewhere like the New England Patriots? A guy like that with a guy like Bill Belichick ...

"It could have been incredible, and he would have gone down as one of the greatest cornerbacks in the history of the game without me having to tell you. He is just that good."

REACHING OUT

A big part of what made Williams excel was his ability to identify greatness in others and the humility he displayed in reaching out to them for help.

He did so with Al Picou, his Pee Wee football coach, as a kid growing up in New Orleans. In college, Williams reached out to former Fortier teammates Kevin Lewis and Maurice Hurst, who helped turn him into the No. 2 cornerback prospect in the nation by his senior season.

Williams continued that narrative in the pros. As a rookie with the Cardinals in 1991, he approached San Diego Chargers All-Pro cornerback Gill Byrd after a game.

Williams introduced himself and asked Byrd if it would be alright if he called him and set up some time to come work out with him during the off-season.

Byrd responded, "Sure," but in the back of his mind thought that call would never be made. For starters, it wasn't like they had a pen on them to exchange numbers in the middle of the football field.

On top of that, most young players are not humble enough to ask veterans for help.

"But Aeneas did and I got a call from him during the off-season," Byrd said. "I was surprised that he even followed through and did that."

Williams went to San Diego that off-season and worked out with Byrd. The next off-season, Williams brought Tracy, his college sweetheart at Southern who became his wife, to spend time with Byrd and his wife Marilyn.

The couples spent time talking about everything from everyday life to navigating a marriage while in the NFL. Williams and Byrd still spent time working out, but a bond that went beyond football began to forge.

Aeneas and Tracy were around so often that Byrd's son, Jairus Byrd, referred to Williams as Uncle Neekie. Williams has served as a mentor to Jairus, who joined the Saints this offseason as a three-time All-Pro safety from the Buffalo Bills.

Tracy credits that time with the Byrds for giving her and Aeneas some of the tools necessary to balance NFL life along with family life.

"Seeing (Gill's) family life really gave us a vision that we could do this as a family and still have our family and that would be the core," said Tracy, who has four kids with Aeneas and has been married to him for 21 years now. "They weren't uppity people; they were down-home people who took seriously their assignment. They are the real deal, very special people."

Byrd, who is now a defensive backs coach with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, says he and his family were only too glad to open up their home to the Williamses. He says he and Marilyn learned from the experience, too.

"Aeneas has been wise beyond his years ever since I've known him," Byrd said. "His wisdom has shown just by him seeking out older players and wanting to be the best. Aeneas has always seemed to be a person who definitely starts a project with the end in mind."

New Orleans native Aeneas Williams, who will be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame on Saturday in Canton, Ohio, reached the Super Bowl with the St. Louis Rams.NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune Archive

The end at that time for Aeneas was football and how to be the best in the sport. He sought knowledge from anywhere he could to gain an edge.

Lewis, Williams' former high school teammate who suffered from temporary paralysis that ended his NFL career, remembers still getting calls from Williams even after he made multiple Pro Bowls. Williams would pick his brain about techniques he could use to cover the best receivers in the game, specifically Irvin.

"He always respected me to the fact I might be able to help him. He had no problem with that," said Lewis, who had faced Irvin a time or two when he played for the San Francisco 49ers. "He would always call me and ask me certain things.

"I told him one day, 'Mike wants to be physical, but you are much quicker than Michael Irvin. So when you actually go bump-and-run with him and you get physical with him, you are actually doing him a favor because then he is going to push off on you, and that's it.' So I told him to bump him one time and then just run with him because you are much quicker than he is.

"He just never had a problem," Lewis continued. "He is always seeking to get better, seeking knowledge about the game, what he can do physically and mentally. He has just always been that way and I've just always been impressed with that."

MOVING ON

After spending his first 10 seasons with the Cardinals, Williams got the most unexpected opportunity in 2001 when the Rams traded for him.

"The Greatest Show on Turf," as the Rams' potent offense had been dubbed, was a solid defense away from returning to the Super Bowl.

Martz brought in Lovie Smith to be his defensive coordinator and the two of them zeroed in on Williams to solidify the unit. The Rams had to give up a second- and fourth-round pick to acquire Williams, whom the Cardinals had designated as their franchise player that offseason.

Williams was sad to leave behind the relationships and memories he and Tracy had built but he realized their time in Arizona was up.

A platform for GodAeneas Williams discussed how being the selected to the Pro Hall of Fame will give him a chance to expand his message about God even more.

In addition to being a leader on the field in Arizona, he and Tracy had begun holding Bible study with the players and their wives and significant others while also being a resource for couples, just as the Byrds had been for them.

"It wasn't necessarily hard. I played my 10 years there, enjoyed my 10 years, but we really sensed that it was time for me to move on and do something different," said Williams, 46. "But my time there, I got to be on the team that made it to the playoffs in 1998. We upset Dallas in Dallas. That was huge. I got to stay on that team long enough to see that. But we were ready for a change. God had another plan for us."

Martz and Smith had a plan for Williams, as well. They needed him to be a difference-maker with his all-around play on the field and with his leadership in the locker room.

He delivered on both fronts. Not only did he make his presence felt on the Rams' defense but he impacted youthful cornerback Dre' Bly, who was extremely talented but lacked discipline.

Watching Williams come to work every day, including practice, made a difference in Bly.

"He would not let the other players underachieve," Martz said. "He set a standard that everyone else had to step up to."

Faulk, who was the Rams' star running back at the time, saw Williams impact his teammates with his tireless work ethic, whether it was on the practice field, in the weight room or in the film room.

"Most of the times you think about what a player does on game day, but it was his preparation throughout the week that affected the young guys on our team," said Faulk, who, in 2011, was the first New Orleans native enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame after a 12-year career spent first with the Indianapolis Colts and then the Rams. "He just taught those guys how to work and how to prepare week in and week out."

Williams also showed them how to step up at the most important times. Having moved from cornerback to safety in St. Louis, he came up big for the Rams in the Super Bowl run at the end of the 2001 season.

In an NFC divisional playoff game, Williams victimized Packers great Brett Favre for two interceptions that he returned for touchdowns -- a 29-yarder in the first quarter and a 32-yard return in the fourth to lead the Rams to a 45-17 win over Green Bay.

"He just baited Brett into throwing the ball out there, misread the coverages," said Martz, whose team picked Favre off six times that day. "He picked him off and ran it right back.

"I have never seen anything like it. I have never been around a corner before or since who had his awareness for the game or abilities."

The next week Williams also picked off Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb in the final two minutes of the NFC championship game to punch the Rams' ticket to Super Bowl XXXVI at the Superdome.

But Belichick and then-Patriots offensive coordinator Charlie Weis didn't give Aeneas a chance to play hometown hero, devising a game plan in which Tom Brady threw away from his side to help the Patriots win, 20-17.

"That was the most disappointing game to me," said Lawrence Williams, Aeneas' father. "They didn't give him a chance to make a play. They kept the ball away from him."

HALL OF FAME NUMBERS

When Williams retired, there was little question he put up Hall of Fame numbers.

The question was: Did anyone notice?

Most of his best years were spent on bad Cardinals teams. Irvin, like many of his receiving peers, thought Williams deserved to be enshrined among the game's greatest players but wasn't sure if those bad years in Arizona would be held against him.

"He was a bright spot in a tough place, played the best receiver and lined up against the best guy all of the time," Irvin said. "You can ask any receiver and I guarantee you they will tell you this dude was tough."

But the question remained: Was Aeneas Williams Hall of Fame tough?

Martz certainly thought so long before he ever coached Williams. His respect for Williams only grew once they shared the same practice field and sideline.

"It's hard to explain, but he did things in the league that nobody else could do or did do," Martz said. "He could jam you at the line of scrimmage or run with them. He could guess routes and guess right.

"You didn't beat him with double moves, he was too smart, too good and he could recover too well. He had such great hand-eye coordination ball skills, which is really unusual for corners."

Faulk, who counts Williams as a close friend, says when he was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2011, he told Williams his time would come. Williams had been a finalist for two years before getting the nod this past February.

As far as Faulk is concerned it is a fitting honor to a superb career.

"This award is indicative of exactly what the Hall of Fame is all about," Faulk said. "He did what he had to do, he represented the Cardinals. And when he came and played with the Rams he was a force on our defense for the things we wanted to accomplish."

Irvin, who took pride in trying to rankle Williams when they were players, looks forward to officially welcoming him to the small fraternity of yellow jacket wearers Saturday in Canton, Ohio, as the 287th inductee.

"I'm so happy for him," Irvin said. "I've lined up against people that are in the Hall of Fame, the Deion Sanders and the Darrell Greens and I'm putting Aeneas Williams in that class. Aeneas could play off, he could play press, then he played both sides. He could do anything.

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